LA Fairgrounds in Pomona seems to hold a Tattoo Convention every 6 months and I've always been curious about it. I decided to go, half hoping to run into an old friend from high school, Corey Miller, who is now on the cable show "LA Ink". He's kinda the "Schneider" of the show (since he is surrounded by females). We sat next to each other in Photography class and one day he came to class with these amazing fingernail tattoos of skulls that would just grow out naturally. When Kristen decided to be Upland High's first punk rock homecoming queen in 1985, I partly attributed her success to Corey's masterly Olde-English/spiderwebbed picket signs. After High School in like '88, an ex-boyfriend got a tattoo in Corey's living room, back before Corey had a shop of his own. When we went over there, Kristen and her punk rock friends looked like they belonged in a secretary pool (down to the acrylic nails) and were like, "You're still into that stuff?" At the time, it was a surprise to me that they were not eternally punky. Corey still has his shop Six Feet Under in the old Upland town square. It's funny, whenever they show Upland on the show, it's implied it is some rural podunk. They even have montaged images of tractors in there. I can't even imagine where there would be a tractor in all of Upland- the citrus industry died there in the early 80's as it became a serious bedroom community. The Inland Empire is an insane, sprawling extension of LA, buttressed by mountains that are unreal in stature and catch on fire often. I expected the Himalayan mountains to make Mt. Baldy look like a knuckle, but quite the opposite. Anyway, I always regretted not having Corey do my first tattoo as he had offered way back when. So, I was wondering what the likelihood of getting on his show would be and was going to ask him if my story was compelling enough to plunk down $100 for the chance. Somehow, I doubt the idea Sam and I had (of getting inner lip tattoos that both say "Zip it" so we could silently argue) would sit well next to firemen getting 9-11 memorial tattoos. I am refraining from commentary on the Tattoo Convention, only to say I was sorry not to see anyone get the dyn-o-mite J.J. tattoo.
